My daughter (along with half the kids in the US) decided she wanted to be a character from Disney’s Frozen movie this Halloween. After she made the big decision of which character (Anna) and we negotiated how the rest of the family would fit in (“Nobody is Hans because he’s a bad guy.”), I got down to the business of assembling our costumes as a mixture of bought (mostly at Old Navy with coupons!) and DIY pieces (because I do not have time to learn to sew dresses!).

Here is my do it yourself process:

I fell in love with Anna’s Coronation outfit (which I found cheap on eBay direct from China) and convinced O to go along with the green instead of Anna’s typical snow travel ensemble (which involves a dress AND a cape). The hairpiece was the easiest part and I think it allowed us to not have to totally copy Anna’s intricate ceremony hairstyle (we just slicked her hair up in a bun instead).

HOW TO: For her hairpiece we picked out 3 sparkly ribbons: a light green, a dark green and gold. I cut pieces of equal length from each and hot glued them to a barrette (from A.C. Moore). Then I tied another piece of gold into a bow and hot glued just the back of it to the barrette (tip: put your fingers in the bow loops as you glue so the tops don’t get stuck or your clip will look smooshed). Easy!

Although technically Anna wore more formal shoes to the coronation, it’s getting pretty cold over here, so function won out (plus my daughter needed some fall/winter transition shoes). Luckily, she was okay with it because these boots are clearly featured in the movie during Anna’s visit to Wandering Oaken’s Trading Post & Sauna. I picked out The Children’s Place Ryder Boots to decorate.

HOW TO: I printed a picture of the costume boots from The Disney Store to use as a guide. Then I sketched out my design in chalk (you can easily wipe chalk mistakes off faux leather like this with a damp cloth or finger). I started out with Fun Paint Glitter Glue in gold but the applicator tube was too big and I knew all my lines were going to run together. Then I tried Martha Stewart’s brand glitter glue in lemon drop (pack of 16 assorted colors on clearance at A.C. Moore!) which had a perfect, long thin applicator but the yellow turned green on the black boots. I had to empty the Martha Stuart glue and replace it with the gold in her small tube but then I just traced my design and let the boots dry overnight.

If my daughter is Anna, you know Mommy has to be Elsa. Since I have a pixie, I knew I’d need faux hair for Elsa’s signature over the shoulder single braid. Doing just a braid crown took less time than crocheting an entire hat and attaching the braid and I think it turned out pretty good!

HOW TO: First measure loosely around your head and down your shoulder to where you want your braid to fall and then double that length (I probably also added a few extra inches to be safe – better too long than too short). I picked a white yarn with some sparkle and cut about 200 pieces that size. Yes, it will be tedious, but turn on a movie and you’ll get through it before it’s over. Tip: make sure you lay your pieces of yarn out so that the ends on one side are lined up (doesn’t have to be exact) to save time and frustration later. Next, holding all your cut pieces together, tie a knot at the lined up end and stick it under something heavy (I put it under my laptop). Comb through the yarn with your fingers to make sure it’s not tangled (take your time!), divide it into 3 sections and braid. Use a large hairband to hold the end of your braid temporarily.

Find the center of your braid and hold the center up to your forehead. Wrap the ends behind your head so that it feels comfortable but not too loose (remember the yarn will stretch) and tie that permanently. I used two of those tiny rubber band hair ties (since they always break). Now, unbraid your 2 tail ends and re-braid them together into a single braid. Secure the end permanently and trim your ends even.

There are lots of ways to decorate your Elsa hair braid and I thought about getting some sparkly snowflake jewels but when I stumbled across these paper snowflakes in the scrapbooking section of A.C. Moore, I knew I wasn’t going to find a better deal. Put 2 aside for your shoes and hot glue the rest to your braid.

I already owned a blue skirt and I found this very Elsa-looking top on Amazon for $10!!! I decided to do without the cape (partially because somewhere inside I was convinced my daughter would change her mind at the last second and steal my costume identity) but I did buy some rhinestone stickers for $1.99, also from the scrap-booking section at my local craft store, and my 4 year old had a blast sticking them to me. Yes – they fell off all over the place but she went a little overboard so I had plenty to spare. :)

I kept 2 snowflakes leftover from Elsa’s hair and hot glued them onto some teal blue Sueded Pointed Toe Flats from Old Navy. These are another totally different shade, but at least all the pieces of my costume were blue, right?

For my son’s Olaf costume, I decided to plan everything around the hat but so many of them were kinda scary looking I was relieved to find this Disney Frozen Flipeez Olaf Hat on Amazon. From there I had planned to put him in just a big, cheap white sweatshirt but I couldn’t find any anywhere! I thought I might have to settle for like 3 layered white shirts for warmth when I noticed a shearling lined brown jacket in the Toddler department. Turned inside out, those unlined brown arms become instant sticks and I have my (off) white snowman. Oh, except there was brown down the center for the zipper too – so I actually had the jacket inside out and backwards. My little guy didn’t seem to mind one bit though. Circles of sticky-back black felt were used as faux buttons and easily covered the interior jacket tag. The best thing about this costume is that I can use all the pieces again later throughout the winter – no waste! :)

Mimi went as Sven the reindeer (a close win over a rock troll). I already had a brown furry cape so she paired that with some brown pants, a black turtleneck and inflatable antlers (the fuzzy ones looked really straggly, plus these were cheaper). Of course her costume wouldn’t be complete without an “Official Arendelle Ice Master and Deliverer” medal, so I found a glittery snowflake and hot glued it to some leftover maroon ribbon from Daddy’s costume to make it a necklace.

My husband’s costume was the only one that required sewing but it was still fairly simple. He used his own gray twill pants an Bogs boots to finish off the look.

HOW TO: I started by pinning the grosgrain ribbon around the collar and v-neck of the shirt/tunic. Then I added a stripe across each shoulder, following the existing seam. I didn’t have a thicker piece of ribbon, so I laid 2 about 6 inch long pieces of my 1.5 inch wide ribbon side by side down the front of the shirt from the point of the v-neck and sewed everything down. Next, I cut out a V shape from the bottom right side of the tunic and pinned faux fur along both sides of the V and around the bottom hem. I pinned and sewed faux fur around both arms and the neckline – but not all the way to the center of the V-neck – leave an inch or 2 free of fur there. I don’t think you can even tell in the picture above that I left that empty space in front, but, trust me, his chin would have been swallowed by fur otherwise (it also helps ensure he can pull the shirt over his head – see below).

Quick tip: I found out that sewing trim onto jersey material is hard; if you pull too much, it’ll bunch and if you pull too little, the sleeves might be too tight to get on. To solve this, I sewed 3/4 of the way around and left the a big tail at the underside of the sleeve. Then I had my husband try on the shirt to make sure his arms fit in and just did a quick tack stitch by hand to connect the fur pieces and cover the empty section. Faux fur is so forgiving, it was completely unnoticeable.

P.S. This is what happens to the boots after they’ve been worn during an epic, probably candy-fueled, tantrum. Next time I’ll add some sort of mod podge or sealant or something over the top of the glitter glue. But it was good while it lasted!HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I absolutely love PicMonkey and use it constantly (as you’ve probably seen), so when they contacted me to help promote their Halloween photo contest, I said Yes! Yes! In exchange I got to play with the full features of their Royale premium membership.

Here’s the contest nitty gritty: PicMonkey is going to choose the most creative Halloween pictures in each of 3 categories: scary, cute, and funny. The 3 winners get a free year of Royale premium membership! To enter, just use PicMonkey’s FREE photo editing tools to monster-fy one of your photos, then share it on one or more of the social sites below, tagged with #PicMonkeyBOO (the hashtag let’s them find your entry, so don’t forget it!).

Twitter

Facebook

Pinterest

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Muzy

WeHeartIt

Flickr

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The contest ends at 11:59pm PST on Tuesday, October 22th, 2013 so you definitely need to jump on this, but with PicMonkey’s simple tools, you can make your photos Halloween-tastic in about an hour or 2 (depending on your perfectionistic tendencies). Read the complete contest details here.

I’ve used PicMonkey’s free tools in the past to brighten up my iPhone pictures, add text and watermarks, make collages, change the style of a photo with lots of contrast, add helpful arrows, block out unwanted faces/bellies, etc. But with a paid Royale premium membership, you really get to kick your photos up a notch. In the Halloween themes, access to Royale features means you can use gashes and slashes, veins, extra scary eyes, the tooth decay tool, monster morph (which I used to create arched eyebrows), more realistic images of bats, lots of extra backgrounds, and more!

Royale membership opens up non-Halloween-themed tools too though. I especially liked playing with the wrinkle remover, eye brightener, mascara (so cool!), the better text fonts, sunglasses (hilarious), and the clone tool that I haven’t totally mastered yet but basically helps you remove or add things from your photos without it looking like you did so (so you don’t have to cover them up with stickers).

So now it’s time for the proof, my little vampire and zombie baby courtesy of PicMonkey’s awesome photo editing tools. Their zombie-loving Daddy is so proud …

But to prove my children really aren’t devil spawn (probably), here’s the before picture. ;)

Give PicMonkey a try, it’s easier than you think, you’ll have a ton of fun and I swear you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it. Good luck!!

Every year, when we go to our adorable local zoo for their annual trick or treating event, there are hundreds of children in costume and maybe 10 parents dressed up. I don’t know, it just seems like such a waste – why not? Are you really going to be embarrassed in front of kids that are totally fine with a ridiculous molted Easter bunny costume on some random person at the mall? Think it’s too much work? There are companies who are wholly dedicated to making Halloween ridiculously easy – enter the T-shirt costume (here’s one example). And there’s this thing called Google – just type in “easy Halloween costume.” Boom. But how about just simple memory making? You only get so many years where your kids aren’t embarrassed to be seen with you. So 11 Halloweens? 12? And then you’ve lost the opportunity.

Here’s another argument: most activities are way more fun in a group. The more the merrier, as the saying goes. Plus kids LOVE seeing their parents be silly. You know how they think it’s hilarious when you put something on your head that’s not supposed to be there? (no? try a cereal bowl, you’ll see). Well, imagine what a kick they’d get out of seeing you in costume! Add to that letting your children have a little bit of say in what you choose to dress up as and you’ve got excitement for weeks.

I love the holidays – even if we take the cheater’s way out sometimes, we still make an effort. Last year, we decided O would go as Cookie Monster and Number 2 as Elmo. I found a sexy Oscar the Grouch costume for adults (because non-sexy costumes don’t exist) but since I was 2 months postpartum, exhausted and it was like 50 degrees, I just took the cute trash can headpiece and picked out a green ensemble. I really wanted Daddy to accessorize with a yellow feather boa, but luckily for him I suppose, we couldn’t find one. He went with a bright yellow thermal to channel Big Bird with extreme simplicity instead.

This year, I was ready to go all out. I had a list of awesome groups with 4+ members as potential ideas: Alice in Wonderland, The 3 Little Pigs (with the big bad wolf, of course), Wizard of Oz, Mario Brothers, etc. But then, as Halloween drew closer, I asked my daughter for her costume opinions. I was not prepared for her to have just one definite idea that she didn’t let go of though. O wants to be a ghost. That means the rest of us could be… um, more ghosts? Uhg. Luckily I asked around and a Facebook friend suggested the rest of us be Ghostbusters – brilliant!!

If you’re following me on Pinterest, you’ve seen my research (if not, click here). Although there are some great tutorials for DIY proton packs, I found a lovely printed t-shirt (with a proton pack printed on the back!) and that is totally enough for me. Daddy found a similar t-shirt and we’ll pair it with khaki pants, black boots (and probably a few layers underneath for warmth). There’s still a slight potential for a better, 3 dimensional proton pack but we’ll see what happens. Number 2 is going to be an adorable (and toasty warm) Stay Puft Marshmallow Man courtesy of The Wishing Elephant on Etsy. And my firstborn… I have an idea for a ghosty hooded cape a la Martha Stewart, but I’m not 100% sure, even with the sparkle overlay, that she’ll be satisfied without full head cover. So we’ll see. I better get sewing.